# Question Time



## goldenquagsire (Oct 22, 2009)

Bit of background info: Question Time is a programme on the BBC which normally features politicians from the major political parties and various other important persons debating questions put forward by audience members. The most recent broadcast was particularly controversial due to the inclusion of Nick Griffin, head of the BNP.

So, did anyone else watch it tonight? I thought it neatly exposed Mr. Griffin for the contradictory, bigoted little man that he is.


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## Jolty (Oct 22, 2009)

My family and I yelled at the tv SO MUCH lol

Griffin is full of utter shit


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## Tailsy (Oct 22, 2009)

charltonbrooker: This is now a game of "who's to blame for this arsehole?"


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## Harlequin (Oct 23, 2009)

Griffin's a cunt but I don't think he had enough air-time. We couldn't truly capture his complete idiocy and lack of compassion in the time he had.

Two men kissing is creepy, Nick? Honestly? 

Fuck you and your racist, out-dated fringe party. Anyone who votes BNP is a cunt and doesn't deserve to be called British. They can be "repatriated" to the sun for all I care.


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## goldenquagsire (Oct 23, 2009)

Harlequin said:


> Two men kissing is creepy, Nick? Honestly?


That was the bit that killed me. His honest-to-god justification for bashing homosexuality? "I think it's creepy". What's even more pathetic is that he tried to suggest that the majority of people would agree with him.


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## H-land (Oct 23, 2009)

Oh, yes, I did read a little something about this on the BBC website yesterday. Something about protests outside the BBC office. It's rather comforting that the masses are so opposed to the BNP, even if there are those who would (and do) support them.
Haven't seen the show, though, or read anything but this about what happened then, I mean... I really should. Hopefully I'll have time after school today.


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Oct 23, 2009)

Is it on youtube yet? I only found out about it this morning when they aired some of the protests and a bit of the show itself on the Beeb. Beating that policeman with that FASCISTS OUT!!! sign isn't going to do much, sir :c

EDIT: It is, sweet.
EDIT 2: Only like 5 minutes in and the guy already makes an unrelated attack on Straw's dad gj


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## Harlequin (Oct 23, 2009)

Yeah, I was like "so...? what's his father got to do with you being a nazi????"


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Oct 23, 2009)

I'm about halfway through and what I'm getting from Nick Griffin is 'why are you racist against white ppl being a white person in Britain is so hard ;~; woe'


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## Lorem Ipsum (Oct 23, 2009)

they should totally give dick griffin an hour slot on the comedy run on bbc one on fridays - the utter shite he comes out with is entertaining because of the contradictions. Phoenix Wright would have a field day


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## Harlequin (Oct 23, 2009)

Vladimir Putin's LJ said:


> I'm about halfway through and what I'm getting from Nick Griffin is 'why are you racist against white ppl being a white person in Britain is so hard ;~; woe'


yeah, no, that's about it

oh and the "forced multiculturalism"

he's got a hard on for that one.

and he doesn't like gays, either. oh and he's a holocaust denier but he's just not allowed to say he is. and um also he doesn't want any browns in the UK but the browns that are already here don't have to leave.

I don't get that last one either.


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## Minish (Oct 23, 2009)

I hadn't heard about it, but we sort of had a mini debate about it in Sociology so I just went and checked it out.

...lol. And he actually complained about the way he was treated?

It just makes me happy that so many people oppose his views. That at least makes up for the people who _think he's right_. Just about, though.


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## Harlequin (Oct 24, 2009)

The sad thing is that his supporters think he was "cheated" out of talking about the immigration "problem"...

I agree that there *is* a problem with immigration. The solution's not "keep the browns out," though. Perhaps putting a cap on the number of immigrants is sufficient but I'm not sure. We need to focus on letting in only those people we need - skilled workers etc that we don't have here - and keeping out people who don't contribute in any way.

IDK. The BNP don't have the right idea though.


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## Lorem Ipsum (Oct 24, 2009)

^ nah I still think we should deport the filthy immigrants

Immigration needs a better system, because at the moment, the whole 'points system' gets exploited massively, and that leads to more immigration. Or perhaps tone down the benefits? We do seem to give them out willy-nilly over here


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## Saith (Oct 24, 2009)

I don't support him or anything, but I do find it kind of ironic that the guy with the 'keep fascists out' sign was hitting someone because he didn't like another person's opinion. Admittedly, that opinion is incredibly prejudiced, but still, the fact that they're trying to support democracy by preventing someone from having his say is a bit... Yeah...


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## Zeph (Oct 24, 2009)

It has already been said, I know, but I just watched it and I'd like to establish my agreement with the general consensus that Nick Girffin is a truly disgusting man. Eurgh.


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Oct 24, 2009)

Saith said:


> I don't support him or anything, but I do find it kind of ironic that the guy with the 'keep fascists out' sign was hitting someone because he didn't like another person's opinion. Admittedly, that opinion is incredibly prejudiced, but still, the fact that they're trying to support democracy by preventing someone from having his say is a bit... Yeah...


To be fair an astonishing number of policemen are BNP so it was the next best thing I guess.


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## Ruby (Oct 24, 2009)

He ought never to have been invited.  For the price of an hour's embarrassment he has won hundreds of thousands of new votes.  If only the BBC had procrastinated until the law were changed, he would have been denied them.


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## Harlequin (Oct 24, 2009)

The BBC shouldn't choose who gets the representation. He's the leader of a large political party. The *people* voted for him. It's wholly our fault that we have him in this position of power.

Every person who didn't vote but could have is to blame. In the general election the people of the UK should go out and vote _en masse_ for a party that's not the BNP.


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## Ruby (Oct 25, 2009)

The law against inciting racial hatred has already established that free speech has limits in this country.  If inviting Nick Griffin to Question Time is as dangerous as inciting racial hatred, or worse, as I believe it is, it too should be prevented by law.


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Oct 26, 2009)

I'm never really sure where I stand on free speech for these far-right parties, but while I'm sure all of us would like to see Nick Griffin banned from life I think the show accurately portrayed him as a fool. Maybe the BBC shouldn't have invited him in the first place, but it would have caused a much bigger storm if they'd revoked their invitation.

Also my dad told me 22% of Britain's going to vote BNP in the next election, is this true :c I mean I don't think so but I'm not sure.


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## Ruby (Oct 26, 2009)

I have not read anywhere that 22% are going to vote for the BNP.  I think perhaps there was a poll which said that about a quarter of people would 'consider' voting for them.  And no, I don't believe that cancelling the invitation would have helped the BNP more than not cancelling it.


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## Lorem Ipsum (Oct 26, 2009)

22% of Brits voting for the BNP is... well, a lot. That's more than the lib dems and (I think) labour are predicted to get o.o


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## Tailsy (Oct 26, 2009)

That's not true at all, wtf.


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## Lorem Ipsum (Oct 26, 2009)

What, are you referring to me, or VPLJ?


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## Tailsy (Oct 26, 2009)

What VPLJ quoted, yeah.

It's far more likely that the Tories are going to monopolise the vote and the Lib Dems might get something like 22%, certainly not an outsider extremist party in a FPTP election.


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Oct 26, 2009)

That's what I told him, but he insisted that it was on the Teletext etc etc so I didn't push the issue :v he's actually pretty good BNP material so er.


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## Tailsy (Oct 26, 2009)

Actually come to think of it he's probably quite right - I was thinking percentage of seats rather than votes, hurr. It's Monday, man. 22% of the vote spread around the country would be massively shit for them, really, because they still won't get any seats, but it could happen.


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## Lorem Ipsum (Oct 26, 2009)

No - even if they got 22% of the votes, that'd still be a major success for the BNP, and get them quite a few seats in the Commons.


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## Tailsy (Oct 26, 2009)

Where exactly are there going to be enough BNP voters in one area to actually win a seat...?


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## opaltiger (Oct 26, 2009)

Wherever they got two MEPs elected?

But no, the BNP is not going to get anywhere _close_ to 22%. 5% would be a victory for them, I think.


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## goldenquagsire (Oct 27, 2009)

Vladimir Putin's LJ said:


> That's what I told him, but he insisted that it was on the Teletext etc etc so I didn't push the issue :v he's actually pretty good BNP material so er.


lol people still use teletext?

edit:

hell yeah lib dems. labour are dead to me, and the day I support conservative is the day America cedes its sovereignty to the Crown


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## Harlequin (Oct 27, 2009)

I hope the Lib Dems win. That'd shut Labour and the Conservatives up. And maybe we'd see something new! IDK.


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## Tailsy (Oct 27, 2009)

"SHIT GUYS WE WON"
"YAAAY"
"... FUCK WHAT DO WE DO NOW"


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## Tarvos (Nov 6, 2009)

BNP will suck if they get to rule in the coalition anyway. Those parties are so one-issue.


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## Harlequin (Nov 6, 2009)

We don't have coalition governments.


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## Effigy of the Forgotten (Nov 12, 2009)

While Nick Griffin is clearly a cockshiner of the highest order, I wasn't wholly fond of the Question Time debate with him. Not because it didn't make him out to be a fool and a bigoted prick - it did - but because if the BBC really wanted to treat the BNP fairly and the same as the other parties, it was doing it in a very strange way. The shots of the audience showed this quite well, literally half of them were black or asian, which contrary to BNP propaganda is not really a good representation of the proportion of minorities in Britain. It just looks really silly and plays into the BNP's hands. Quite racist in itself actually choosing people for the audience based on their skin colour, but meh. 

Every time one of the audience asked a question or criticised Griffin there tended to be riotous applause and cheering, which while this was quite funny occasionally, didn't really make for a good debate if every time someone spoke they were cut off by cheers/jeers in Griffin's case. This is a massive shame, because open debate about BNP policy would have wrecked Griffin, apart from their "send them all back" manifesto the BNP doesn't really have any ideas about how to run a country, and exposing them by asking about their non racially based policies would have been much more effective than preaching to the choir by attacking his racism, and might have succeeded in convincing people who were "on the fence" that the BNP was not the way to go. As it was, I can't imagine many BNP supporters would have had their minds changed by the debate (although this goes the other way too, Nick Griffin is talking shit about having thousands of new members because of the debate).

(on a lighter note, the "Nick Griffin is a twat" page on Facebook has more fans than Nick Griffin's actual page atm, jokes :P)


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